FAA rules to clear way for routine commercial drone flights

Routine use of small drones by real estate agents, farmers, filmmakers and countless other commercial operators was cleared for takeoff by the Obama administration Tuesday, after years of struggling to write rules that would both protect public safety and free the benefits of a new technology.

The FAA is expected to release final regulations as early as June 20 that would permit commercial unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) weighing less than 55 pounds to fly in the USA, the Small UAV Coalition said in a statement June 17.

In addition to that minimum age change, another big change coming to the rules is that the maximum height that a drone operator would be legally able to fly would be 400 feet AGL, and in addition to that the drone operator would be required to read, speak and write in English (presumably so they can correctly follow drone traffic signs?).

But don’t worry, says the FAA, because the TSA’s opaque process for determining who can fly a drone “provides a substantial amount of due process to individuals who believe that they improperly failed an STA”. “Without Congress giving the agency new milestones, we are at risk of stifling innovation and creating undue safety risks”.

Currently, they have to apply for a waiver from rules that govern manned aircraft, a process that can be time-consuming and expensive.

Some of these regulations can be waived by the FAA as long as an operator proves the proposed flight will be “conducted safely under a waiver”.

The Federal Aviation Administration just made it a lot easier for businesses to operate drones.

Operators must be at least 16 and have a remote pilot certificate and must report to the FAA of any drone that results in serious injuries or property damage. Operators must also present identification for a security vetting similar to that applied to general aviation pilots.

The FAA in December announced rules requiring registration of drones weighing more than 0.55 pound (250 grams) and less than 55 pounds, including payloads such as on-board cameras. Speed would be limited to about 100 miles per hour. The updated regulatory framework replaces that license with a knowledge test and certificate specific to flying a drone – allowing companies a much cheaper, faster, and simpler path to getting in the air. Similarly, the limitations in the regulations won’t initially permit longer flights for agricultural flyovers, pipeline and utility inspections and news media photography over crowds.

Operations are allowed during daylight and during twilight if the drone has anti-collision lights.

The FAA has already convened groups to study how to eventually allow such flights without waivers.

Dougherty, who wants to use the aircraft to document disasters like the flooding, said he does not have approval from the FAA to fly the aircraft but has been working to obtain it for about a year.

This would seemingly prevent their use by the likes of Amazon and Google for deliveries of small packages to offices and homes.

But the FAA’s slow pace led frustrated lawmakers to include a provision in a major aviation bill four years ago setting deadlines for the agency to issue regulations to safely integrate small drones into the national airspace by August 2014 and other drones by September 2015.